Angiogenesis is a tightly-regulated process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing blood vessels. Although angiogenesis is important during development to ensure adequate blood circulation, many disorders are associated with pathological angiogenesis, such as ocular disorders (e.g., age-related macular degeneration, AMD) and cell proliferative disorders (e.g., cancer). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a clinically-validated driver of angiogenesis and neutralization of VEGF, for example, using an anti-VEGF blocking antibody, can be used to treat disorders associated with pathological angiogenesis.
There remains a need for antibodies, such as anti-VEGF antibodies, with enhanced binding affinity, stability, pharmacokinetics, and/or expression, for example, for use in treating disorders associated with pathological angiogenesis. In particular, there is a need for antibody compositions for long-acting delivery for treatment of ocular disorders (e.g., AMD (e.g., wet AMD), diabetic macular edema (DME), diabetic retinopathy (DR), and retinal vein occlusion (RVO)). In addition, there is an unmet need for improved methods of identifying such antibodies with improved properties (e.g., enhanced binding affinity, stability, pharmacokinetics, and/or expression).